GermanFluent

A1 · Time and place prepositions

zu Hause, nach Hause

at home vs. going home

Formzu Hause (Ort, wo?) / nach Hause (Richtung, wohin?)

Meaning and usage

German uses two fixed phrases for home. zu Hause means at home, the place where you are. nach Hause means home, the direction you go or travel. The words zu and nach never change, and Hause keeps its -e in both phrases.

Use zu Hause with verbs like sein, bleiben and arbeiten. Use nach Hause with verbs of movement like gehen, fahren and kommen. The common mistake is mixing them: say Ich bin zu Hause for being at home, and Ich gehe nach Hause for going home.

Examples 6

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Es ist spät. Ich gehe jetzt .

    Show answer

    Correct answer: nach Hause

    gehen shows movement towards home, so the direction phrase nach Hause is correct. zu Hause would describe being at home, not going there.

    • am Haus means at or on the building, not the fixed phrase for home.
    • im Haus means inside the building, not the fixed phrase for home.
    • zu Hause describes a position, so it does not fit movement with gehen.

In this topic: Time and place prepositions

  1. am Montag, am Abend on Monday, in the evening
  2. im Januar, im Sommer in a month or season
  3. um acht Uhr at + clock time
  4. von … bis from one time or place to another
  5. nächste Woche, jeden Tag next week, every day: no preposition, accusative
  6. vor zwei Jahren ago, with a length of time
  7. Ich komme aus … saying where someone or something comes from
  8. nach Berlin, zum Arzt, in die Schule to a town, to a person, into a place
  9. zu Hause, nach Hause at home vs. going home
  10. bei at someone's home, at a company, near a place
  11. zum, zur, ins, beim, vom zum, zur, ins, beim, vom: preposition and article as one

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.